Mailbox Vandals Cut Wide Swath in Munson

June 7, 2018 by Ann Wishart

Geauga County Sheriff’s Office deputies are looking for one or more individuals, possibly driving a white minivan, in connection with a string of attacks on more than a dozen mailboxes in Munson Township early May 31.

Deputy David Shaffer reported in the June 1 sheriff’s blotter he responded to a call from a resident on Klatka Drive just before 7 a.m. that the mail box had been removed or damaged. The homeowner said mailboxes at three other homes on Klatka Drive also had been vandalized.

Two of the mailbox owners said they saw a white Chrysler minivan in the area at about 12:30 a.m. last Thursday.

Shaffer also responded to a call at 8:31 a.m. on Millstone Drive regarding damage to seven or eight mailboxes along the residential street in Munson Township.

Included in the report was an incident where a Giant Eagle shopping cart was left on a mailbox on Livery Lane, where a garbage can was also pushed over.

At 8:37 a.m., a deputy visited an Auburn Road residence in Munson Township where a mailbox had been knocked down.

“Shopping cart from Giant Eagle appears to have been thrown at mailbox, destroying box and post,” the report reads.

The complainant said a loud bang was heard just after midnight and the cart and damage were discovered in the morning.

At 12:40 a.m., a resident on Stanfield Drive in Munson Township called in a complaint she found garbage in her mailbox with feces smeared all over it and she also found some paperwork in the garbage she wanted a deputy to take.

The homeowner said Tuesday this was the second time in two years her mailbox has been destroyed by vandals and she would love to catch the culprits.

“Last time, they just pushed the pole and the mailbox leaned, so I was able to prop it back up,” she said. “But this time, it was different.”

When she went to her mailbox, she noticed several newspapers and other material in the ditch, the post broken off and her molded plastic mailbox lying on the ground, she said.

“When I opened it, the mail stunk,” she added.

Besides breaking off the pole, the vandals had filled the mailbox with feces.

“My neighbor said I needed to report it, so I called the sheriff’s office,” she said.

The homeowner said she has no idea who would target her, as well as several others in the area. She immediately replaced her mailbox and hopes there will be no third time.

“I would like to find them and give them what they gave me,” she said.

At 1:19 p.m. May 31, a shopping cart was found in a ditch at 10220 Mulberry Lane and was collected by the Waste Management truck in the area.

Friday afternoon, Sheriff’s Lt. John Hiscox said he had not heard of any progress on the mailbox bandits.

“Why would somebody do that?” he asked.

Mailboxes are protected by federal law, and crimes against them and the mail they contain are considered a federal offense.

Violators can be fined or imprisoned for each act of vandalism, according to the U.S. Postal System website.

People with any information on mailbox vandalism or mail theft in their area are asked to report it to their local post office or to the Postal Inspection Service at 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777).